Texas’ big bad wolf sizes up B.C.

I’ve learned a lot about compromise over the last few decades. Living in the United States for most of grade school and university, I would often feel uncomfortable in combative situations, wanting disagreements to end with a reasonable outcome where both sides came to an understanding. I eventually adapted, as one does, but the feeling never left me.

It wasn’t until I returned home to Canada that I realized this need for compromise wasn’t necessarily a quality unique to me. It was a cultural practice living deep down in my maple syrup-filled soul.

Canadians, in general, have an inherent need to compromise. We self-identify as reasonable people, especially when compared to our neighbours to the south, and have a tendency to accommodate rather than inconvenience. Some call it polite — we just call it being fair. So it comes as no surprise when I hear my fellow country folk, including our own government, telling people to give companies like Kinder Morgan a break — that pipelines are better than other modes of transport for oil, that Trans Mountain is the lesser of the evils and that Canada has to move forward on at least one pipeline project for the good of the economy.

By saying these things, people — like our Prime Minister — are appealing to our deepest values as good compromisers. Trudeau says we can protect the environment AND build pipelines? What a relief! Everyone wins. Phew.

The problem, though, is that compromise, by nature, means all involved agree to an adequately beneficial outcome. And typically, compromise is only something you can do with confidence when dealing with a person or group you trust.

So… Can we trust Kinder Morgan?

To answer that, we need to understand the company and its culture. Kinder Morgan was co-founded by now-billionaire Richard Kinder and his pal Bill Morgan. In case you missed it, Morgan and Kinder are ex-Enron executives, the American corporation that in the early 2000s was found guilty of extensive financial fraud, including stealing from their own employees. The company filed for bankruptcy, leaving thousands of their workers without jobs, health care or their hard-earned pensions. As it happens, Kinder Morgan Pipelines was formed out of Enron Liquids Pipeline, L.P., a tax shelter for Enron the company.

Whether or not you think Rich Kinder, or any one of his fellow former Enron-ers he has employed, had a direct role in that company’s devastating fraud, their business ethics are only a portion of what troubles me about Kinder Morgan.

Like almost all companies, Kinder Morgan exists for one reason: to make money. Oh, and to keep shareholders happy…by making them a lot of money. In fact, up until 2014, the company was registered as a Master Limited Partnership. This structure is like an invisibility cloak from paying corporate taxes — companies who only own infrastructure but don’t “produce” anything are allowed to instead parse out most of their profits to wealthy shareholders who then pay their income taxes (at a rate much lower than corporate taxes). This is what you might call shrewd business practices — finding loops holes and corners to cut in order to maximize profits. Apparently, Rich Kinder was known for this.

The fact that Kinder Morgan is out solely for itself and its shareholders seems to be a forgotten point in the conversation about the company’s intentions in Canada and their general trustworthiness. Could that be because of the millions of dollars the multinational pipeline company has in its ad budget they use to try to convince Canadians what a downhome, warm and fuzzy organization they are? And sure, this is capitalism. I get it. But there is something inherently wrong with putting the almighty dollar above the health and safety of human beings, including the very people you employ and claim to care about.

Yep, for Rich Kinder and his fellow stakeholders, this is about money. And the pursuit of collecting that money is just business — tearing up land is just business; treading on Aboriginal rights is just business; the inevitable layoffs of Albertans and British Columbians when oil prices tank is just business; financial uncertainty is just business; oil spills are just business — and good business, by the way. Kinder Morgan owns a majority stake in WCMRC, the company that has a monopoly on oil spill cleanup on the West Coast. That’s probably why they argued in the NEB review that oil spills can be “good” for the economy…

Simply put, they’re desperate. And desperate times usually lead to desperate measures — not trustworthiness.

It’s safe to say Kinder Morgan doesn’t care about Canadians — at least, not for the reasons they want us to think they do. Caring for struggling Albertans and British Columbians by providing them a few jobs is merely an accidental outcome of their operations, not their goal.

No doubt they’ll continue to try to create the illusion they are a champion of oil workers, that they care about Alberta industry and that their pipeline is a beacon of hope for the Canadian economy, and maybe some people will start to believe them. But the next time you find yourself being convinced by your reasonable inner Canadian that Kinder Morgan cares about our health, safety and economy, and that they deserve a “fair” shake, don’t forget there is a rich Texan, a billion dollar oil industry and our very own Premier, Christy Clark, pulling levers behind that curtain — and there is no win-win here. The only thing Kinder Morgan cares about is their bottom line.

This is a good article but should include at least 2 additional important points.
1) In 2000 the BC greenhouse industry was almost bankrupted due to sky-rocketing gas price that were the direct result of ENRON manipulation of the California energy market.
2) BC Gas owned the Trans Mountain pipeline together with all the gas distribution system in BC. Kinder Morgan acquired the assets of BC Gas and, as many in the industry expected, immediately sold the gas distribution system (to another American owned company) and only kept the Trans Mountain pipeline. It is not clear why a newly formed, Texas based company would want a pipeline in BC. The answer may be related to the US need for increased energy security at the time. Kinder was well connected with the Bush-Cheney administration and their intent was likely to transport oil sands bitumen to refineries on the US west coast. The market has changed and with it new shale oil production the US does not need Alberta oil.

I agree it is time to uncover the truth about Kinder Morgan… great job…Do they think that we are all a bunch of uneducated morons in BC . If Canada wants to compromise why not build a oil refinery on the US , BC, ,Alberta, border !! Lots of jobs and we get to keep our oil. ( Not sure why anyone want such a dirty filth product)

Refineries are huge, complex and expensive. By the time they’re done building it, renewables will be cheaper and easier. You won’t make your money back on a new refinery at this point. That’s my guess anyway.

There is no reason for Kinder Morgan to donate huge amounts of money to Christy Clark and her Lieberal minions so Christy is forced to abandon her yearly stipends. Her spin was that it was her choice. LMFAO
Christy Clark was bought and she accepts world donations puting BC up for sale to the higher $ donators! She seems to yell, “To hell with Treaties. Pay me and I’ll overlook the theft!” We need to pay attention to both sides of the Treaties and release the trust fund every Canadian government had helped themselves to while trying to hide it’s very existance! The ICC is being made aware, thanks to social media. UNDRIP is alive and well.

Koch Industries owns the 320,000 BBL/day Pine Bend refinery in Minnesota. The operation is reported to be extremely lucrative. They get 80% of their crude oil from Canada, most from the oil sands. Since 2006 they have spent $350 million on upgrades and plan to spend another $750 million to improve capacity and emission controls. To build a new refinery of this scale would cost a lot. Apparently, however, Koch believes it is worth spending over $1 billion on upgrades to a refinery that processes Alberta oil. Here in Canada we will spend over $1 billion of tax-payers money to install a “spill-response” capability that will enable Kinder Morgan to make a profit while making us feel better about the significant risk of shipping bitumen to Asia where refineries can make the kind of money Koch does down in Minnesota. Unbelievable!!!

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